Brrr! Get Your Jacket, Gloves Out Of Storage

By NICOLA M. WHITE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Dec 17, 2007

TAMPA - Time to put the flip-flops away.

After weeks of unseasonably high temperatures, winter weather is finally catching up with the Tampa Bay area.

This means overnight temperatures dipping into the high-30s for most of the area this week and freeze warnings for the Nature Coast.

Freeze shelters opened Sunday night in Hillsborough County to accommodate the homeless and those who did not have adequate heat at home.

"The change is going to feel probably more drastically than if it was normal temperatures last week," said meteorologist Rick Davis at the National Weather Service in Ruskin. "Last week, we were 10-plus degrees above normal. Now, we're going to be 10-plus degrees below normal. We're going to have a 20- to 30-degree temperature spread in a matter of days."

Blame the temperature drop on the weather up north; the tail end of the snowstorms that pummeled the Northeast this weekend is reaching all the way down to Florida, Davis said.

Of course, don't expect any snow, or any rain, either. This weekend's rain - the first in what seems like forever - amounted to about a quarter of an inch to an inch in most areas, with 3 to 4 inches in areas in Pasco County directly affected by Sunday morning's tornado.

To learn when freeze shelters are opening, dial 211.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.